Child Support

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Child support in Arizona is calculated pursuant to Arizona Child Support Guidelines. This is a formula that accounts for the parties’ income, the number of children at issue, the number of parenting days for each parent, and any costs associated with the child or children, such as daycare costs, health insurance costs, and any special needs costs. Any time the Court modifies or determines parenting time the Court is obligated to calculate child support. The biggest issue facing most families today is that one parent does not know exactly how much the other parent is making. In these types of cases, the parties can engage in discovery and disclosure. This allows each party to know exactly how much the other party is making. This ensures that child support is calculated correctly.

In cases where the parties are married, the court allows the party who has the minor children in his or her care to go after child support from the other parent, going back until the date of separation. If the parties are not married, the Court allows the parent who has the minor child or children in his or her care to go back three years prior to the filing of his/her pleadings to collect child support.

If you or someone you know is not collecting child support, or doesn’t believe they are collecting the right amount of child support, call the Law Offices of Adam Rieth to schedule a free consultation.

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When Can a Child Decide Where He or She Wants to Live

Up until recently Arizona did not have a set age at which a child could decide what parent he or she wanted to live with. However, Arizona just passed legislation that will allow a child aged 14 or older to decide what parent he or she wants to live with. The key to this will be the child’s maturity level. The more mature the child is, the more weight the Court will put on what the child wants. Prior to this legislation being passed, the child’s wants or desires was just one of many factors the Court had to consider.